Funny thing was that when I was talking to the first friend who was there already when I arrived, she (a mother of three boys - two of whom are already adults) said to me when I asked about her kids, "Kids are overrated." She didn't say it in a negative way, though. She just stated it in a matter-of-fact manner he he...
I know she loves her boys so much 'coz she's been a single mother ever since her husband died years ago, but at least she doesn't sugarcoat mommyhood. She has to survive in a new country and support her kids and now two of them are already independent young men. Now that's what I call a fighter! :-D
But the sentence that she said definitely helped me get in a good mood ha ha ha ha...And nobody asked about kids concerning us, so it was all good. It was just a tad sad 'coz one friend is moving away from this place in a few months', so we were also sort of saying goodbye to her, though we hope we can still have time to meet her again before she finally leaves us. It's sad not only because she's our friend, but because there aren't too many foreigners living in this small village of Sodankylä, so when one foreigner leaves, it's a HUGE loss for the rest of us.
However, I hope she'll have a good life in the city! :-) And it means that I have a new reason to visit the city later on he he he...
P.S. Read a blog post on "seasons of a marriage" and I realized that for us, it's as though we jumped from the fourth year straight into "the empty nest period" (when we let go of our dream to have kids) even though we don't necessarily experience all the ups and downs of parenting, but I do think about our older years and we do redirect our focus from that dream towards "fun/memorable things to do together". Isn't that what older couples do as well when the kids have left the nest?
Glad the meeting went well. When you're with people who are reasonable - who don't think the world turns around their kids, who know other people have lives too - it makes a huge difference doesn't it? And it means we don't mind asking about their kids, because we're genuinely interested? Whereas if we heard about nothing BUT the kids all the time, we'd be fed up!
ReplyDeleteYou're right - we're very like empty nesters. Except that we don't pine for our kids to come home and visit.
True, true, VERY true about reasonable people. And yes, it makes me interested to know about their kids (not too much, but just enough).
DeleteAnd THANKS for the confirmation about empty nesters. :-)
Yes. As you and Mali observed it's great to be with women who have a broad set of interests. We are definitely a few steps ahead of most of our friends in where we are in life. Glad to see you're redirecting on the adventures awaiting you! You must have a really interest vantage point...had not heard of Sodankyla before. Must go Google it to learn more.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS for your comment, Pamela. :-) Yeah, Sodankylä is such a small village that I don't think many people have ever heard of it before ha ha ha...It's about 1,5 hours up north from Rovaniemi where you can meet Santa every day of the year ha ha...
DeleteSanta Claus Village